We Require a Chopper to Search For Them’: Adolescent’s Emergency Call to Rescue Relatives Adrift Off Australian Coast Disclosed

“We got lost out there,” young Austin Appelbee tells the triple-zero dispatcher, having swum four kilometres in rough, open water and jogging two kilometres to get assistance for his kin.

The operator inquires how much time has elapsed since he began.

“[It] was ages past … I think they’re kilometres out to sea. I think we must get a helicopter to go find them,” he says.

Emergency services have released the recorded plea made previously after the boy left his family adrift at sea off the WA coast to seek assistance.

His demeanour remains clear and calm, even as he voices his concern for his kin.

“I am unsure of what their condition is right now, and I’m really scared,” he tells the dispatcher.

“Mum said to seek assistance … We were in serious danger.”

The Harrowing Ordeal

The mother and children had been carried 4km out to sea in rough conditions while enjoying water sports.

His mum asked him to take his kayak and find help, so the youth commenced, discarding first his sinking craft then his bulky flotation device to make the journey by swimming.

After making it to shore – following a four-hour swim – he sprinted for 1.25 miles to get to a phone.

“Hello, my name is Austin … I have younger siblings, Beau and Grace. Beau is 12 and Grace is eight,” he states the emergency services.

“I’m sitting on the beach right now, and I have to also explain – I think I need an paramedic because I think I have exposure … I’m really, I’m completely exhausted. I have sunstroke, and I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

A Getaway in Peril

The family was on a break in Quindalup, two hundred kilometres south of Perth. They departed from Geographe Bay following 10am on a Friday in late January.

The woman later described that they were playing around when the children “went out a bit too far”. The breeze strengthened, they dropped their paddles, and started floating away.

“It sort of all went wrong very, very quickly,” she said.

The parent also spoke of having to make “a terribly difficult call” to send her son to swim ashore.

“I knew he was the most capable and he was able to manage it,” she said.

The Search Operation

The boy explained being “completely out of breath”.

“I just pressed on, I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do elementary backstroke,” he said.

The distress call was made at around 6pm.

At about 8.30pm, a full ten hours after they first departed, the family were located and saved. They had drifted about 14km out to sea.

The emergency call was shared with the parents' permission.

A police sergeant who coordinated the search and rescue effort said the family was in an “extremely dire situation”.

“They were in genuine danger, and time was of the essence given how much time they had been in the water and with night approaching.

“What the teenager did was truly remarkable. His heroic actions in those conditions were exceptional, and his actions were instrumental in bringing about a rescue.”

The commander also highlighted how the teenager clearly relayed key facts.

When asked to describe the paddleboards for the rescue team, the teenager said: “They were green and white.”

“And I’m not sure if it’s there, but they had this rod, and there was a catch on the line. As we hooked one.”